Patrick administration is not proposing a pipeline

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The Podium piece, “Flooding the energy market,” states the Patrick administration is proposing a natural gas pipeline that would run across the state. This is simply not true. The administration is not proposing any gas pipeline, nor is it rushing ahead with potentially dangerous energy initiatives, which the piece also suggests.

What we are doing is looking at all options to help ensure that our energy future is reliable, secure, and clean. According to ISO-New England, more than 8,000 megawatts of electricity generation capacity — or nearly one third percent of the region’s generation fleet, is at risk of retiring by 2020. This is both dangerous and expensive for ratepayers.

To plan for the shortfall, we are working with ISO-New England and the other New England states to explore the need for new natural gas. This is not a rubber stamp for any existing proposed project.

We are also advocating for a clean energy resources bill that establishes a non-discriminatory, competitive framework for bringing clean, reliable, cost-effective energy into our region through a competitive stakeholder process. The administration is doing this while driving toward our greenhouse gas reduction targets and protecting ratepayer interests. These issues are complex and deserve debate. However, we should be candid about what’s at stake.